Chief Minister, Health Minister get vaccinated

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar got the first dose of the vaccination at the State-run Victoria Hospital on Friday.

Both of them took Covaxin, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. On Thursday, Covaxin was taken off the clinical trial mode and is now authorised for emergency use on a par with Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield.

Speaking after taking the jab, Mr. Sudhakar appealed to all senior citizens and eligible persons to register and get vaccinated at the earliest. The Minister, who is a doctor himself, got the shot under the frontline workers’ category.

The State Health Department has now started using Covaxin in more session sites across the State. Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Jawaid Akhtar told The Hindu that Covaxin has been dispatched to vaccination centres across the State that have more session sites, including Bengaluru.

“We are making both vaccines available in all centres, even in the six institutions in Davangere, Shivamogga, Ballari, Chamarajnagar, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru where only Covaxin was given. We are scaling up the vaccination programme. The total number of vaccinations touched 1.12 lakh on Friday. The vaccination timings have been made flexible and can go on even till 10 p.m. in private hospitals,” he said.

Meanwhile, the total vaccinations in Karnataka touched 12,70,782 till 5.30 p.m. on Friday. This includes 2,75,301 senior citizens and 50,343 persons above 45 years with co-morbidities, who have been vaccinated since March 1.

On Friday, as many as 57,885 senior citizens and 12,055 above 45 years with co-morbidities took the jab till 5.30 p.m. Cumulatively, Bengaluru Urban has recorded the highest numbers – 1,08,036 and 15,979 respectively – in these categories.

So far, a total of 4,78,541 healthcare workers and 1,73,309 frontline workers have taken the first dose of the vaccination.

As many as 2,80,358 healthcare workers have taken the second dose.